HUNGARIAN SCHOOL BEGINS CLASSES IN UN-ADMINISTERED EAST CROATIA

OSIJEK, Dec 3 (Hina) - Ethnic Hungarian primary school pupils in six villages in the Baranja region of UN-administered eastern Croatia on Monday began attending classes according to a curriculum drawn up by the Croatian Ministry of Education. The head of the Osijek County Office for Education and Culture, Ksenija Zbozil, told Hina on Tuesday that the school would work as a transitional school of the UN Transitional Administration in the region (UNTAES). Zbozil said that 153 pupils would be taught by about 30 teachers who would receive their salaries from the Croatian budget. "The pupils have been ensured free textbooks in Croatian and Hungarian, and the teachers have been provided with professional literature," Zbozil said. She said that this was a part of the peaceful reintegration of the region into Croatia and that the process would continue with the opening of schools for Slovak, Ruthenian and Ukrainian minorities. Zbozil thanked UN Transitional Administrator Jacques Klein and the UNTAES Education and Culture Committee for cooperation. Local Serb authorities had not yet proposed a curriculum for the Serb minority, she said. UNTAES has set time limits for submission of education programmes so that the reintegration of the school system could be completed before the beginning of the next school year. (hina) vm jn 031314 MET dec 96